Energy saving is high up on the agenda for most building owners but not enough people involved in running buildings understand the benefits that could be achieved by improving building efficiency if their entrances had more thought put into their design.
A closed well insulated draft protected double glazed closed door is a great way of helping keeping heat inside the building but keeping doors closed is not the best way of getting people traffic in and out of the building. When foot fall is high automatic doors can be permanently open and rotary doors slow traffic down and can cause problems for people with disabilities.
Fitting a well specified door curtain or air barrier can be a very efficient way of reducing space heating costs and should be considered in building design.
Retro fitting a door curtain can also be a very effective solution to help manage the entrances of building.
There are many factors that will effective the energy performance of a building and the effectiveness that an air curtain can have.
The HEVAC - FETA Association Air Curtain Industry Group has produce an air curtain guide which looks at many of the factors involved in specifying and installing air curtains and is available as a free download from the FETA website
An energy efficient way to protect an entrance would be to fit a product like the Enviroscreen door curtain from Envirotec.
Envirotec have introduced a heat pump version to the popular Enviroscreen range.
Enviroscreen's are optimised for use with Toshiba digital inverter heat pumps to deliver high seasonal efficiencies with average co-efficient of performance (COP) 3.5+. This means for every 1kW of electrical energy used by the heat pump 3.5+ kW of heat is output by the air curtain.
The units have been introduced to address the growing demand for environmentally friendly, green, low-carbon heat sources in many applications.
The systems are configured so that the refrigerant in the heat pump module extracts heat from ambient air; the refrigerant then condenses in the air curtain module to release heat to the air curtain. Sophisticated controls ensure the air curtains are highly responsive to changing conditions, for maximum comfort and efficiency.
The stylish all new Enviroscreen door curtain models are ideal for applications where there is little or no bulkhead, so that the units are visible and complement the aesthetics of the space. EAB Air Barriers offer a very high air output and can be recessed or ‘on view’. Envirotec’s UK manufacturing facility also has the capability to produce bespoke heat pump air curtains to suit individual projects.
Toshiba digital inverter heat pumps feature an advanced inverter-controlled condenser, combining high performance and efficiency with low noise. They have been optimised for use the HFC refrigerant R410A.
More information can be found on the Envirotec website
I've actually not given much thought to making entrances energy efficient so this post has been quite informative. Thanks
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